Radeon HD 4830: New AMD graphics card reviewed

23.10.2008 um 06:05 Uhr With the HD 4830 AMD completes the product array and closes the gap between the Radeon HD 4670 and the HD 4850 with a slimmed down RV770 GPU for about 120 Euros.

IntroductionAMD wants to fill the gap between the HD 4850 and the low-priced HD 4670 with a new card based on the RV770-GPU, which is used on the HD 4850 and HD 4870, too. The retail price of the HD 4830 is supposed to be around 120 Euros when it is introduced to the markets. According to AMD most online stores will have the card on stock at the official release date.

The HD 4830 sample from Sapphire has a non-default cooling solution and a blue PCB.Quelle: http://www.pcgameshardware.deImportant UpdateIt seems like the review samples of most websites have been equipped with the wrong number of Shader ALUs and that AMD also created internal performance documentations based on those faulty models. Our sample was delivered with only 560 active shaders, too. Luckily we have access to a fully functional sample from Sapphire. We used this card to receive correct benchmark results and updated our review accordingly. The correct results are colored in red now.

The PCGH benchmark review reveals if the Radeon HD 4830 really is the price performance wonder it is expected to be. We compared a lot of AMD cards to receive a better comparability: The HD 4850, the HD 4670 and the HD 3870, which is the fastest dingle GPU model of the HD 3000 series. From Nvidia's array we chose the Geforce 9800 GT which is also available for about 120 Euros - you can already get some OC versions of the Nvidia card for that price - and the Geforce 9800 GTX+ that is available for an additional 20 Euros.

We tested the cards with Call of Duty 4, Crysis and Race Driver Grid. The DX10 Western Shooter Call of Juarez that really stresses the graphics cards and the venerable Half-Life 2 - upgraded with Episode 2 and the Cinematic Mod - finish of our game benchmarks. The synthetic tools are represented by 3DMark 06 and 3DMark Vantage.

Since those features are important, too, we also check power consumption and loudness.